Return to Grimmauld Place: The Family Tree
by HareAndTheHatter
Summary: Sirius Black has returned to Grimmauld Place after 12 long years in Azkaban. How does he deal with the memories of his family and childhood? Set during Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.


Sirius gazed at the worn tapestry of his family tree, particularly the burnt mark that was once his name. Not seeing himself among his relatives gave him a pleasant feeling. He glanced at the rest of the tree. Under Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier were two names and another burnt mark. His three cousins: Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda.

Sirius had always hated Bellatrix. His deranged cousin was just as obsessed with blood purity as his parents. She was already a devoted Death Eater when he started his first year at Hogwarts and was just as furious as his mother when she found out he was sorted into Gryffindor. She would often fire curses at him when he came home for the holidays, which he would skillfully dodge. The last time Sirius had seen Bellatrix was when she was sent to Azkaban. He had caught a glimpse of her from his cell. Her dark eyes were wild and she was screaming that the Dark Lord will return.

He had never cared much about Narcissa, and she never showed any interest in him either. She was always the perfect, prim and proper pure-blood daughter who did well in school and made a respectable marriage.

Her parents had been very pleased with Narcissa, unlike her sister, Andromeda. To his mother, Andromeda was "an ungrateful blood-traitor scum", but to Sirius she had always been his favourite cousin, who would always play with him, tell him stories about Hogwarts and prevent Bellatrix from picking on him. She never seemed to care about blood-purity as much as the rest of the family, even though she was raised to believe that pure bloods were superior to all.

She did not approve of Bellatrix becoming a Death Eater. She stopped talking to her older sister completely, and then she met the Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, and fell in love. They secretly dated during her last two years at Hogwarts, but then the family found out and Andromeda was disowned. Sirius, then ten years old, watched his mother blast Andromeda off the family tree, and it broke his heart. He hadn't seen his cousin ever since. He had tried to find her when he left at sixteen, but without any luck. He had however heard that Andromeda had a daughter, Nymphadora, who was now an Auror...

A cluttering sound from downstairs brought Sirius out of his trance. His hand instinctively reached for his wand as he ran downstairs.

"Who's there?" he yelled pointing his wand in the direction the sound had come from, "Show yourself?"

Slowly, an aged house elf, with bat-like ears and folds of wrinkled skin stepped out of the kitchen closet. He was glaring at Sirius with pure hatred in his eyes.

"Kreacher," Sirius spat. He had forgotten about the horrible elf that had served his family with sickening devotion.

_But what is he still doing here? _Sirius wondered.

And then it hit him. Sirius was the last living male in his family. He was Kreacher's master now, he realized with disgust.

"Master Sirius has returned to the noble House of Black after many years of disgracing his family and Kreacher's poor mistress. The friend of mudbloods and blood traitors. Brought shame upon his noble family, he did," Kreacher croaked in his bull-frog voice.

"SHUT IT KREACHER! GET OUT!" Sirius bellowed.

"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR! UNGRATEFUL BRAT!"

His yelling had awakened the portrait of his mother, causing her to start screaming again. Sirius ran into the hall.

"DIRT! SCUM!" the portrait continued to yell.

"SHUT UP YOU OLD HAG!" Sirius barked as he shut her curtain again. He returned to the kitchen. Kreacher was still standing there with a disgusted look on his face.

"Get out," Sirius hissed at the elf.

"Oh my poor mistress, what would she say if she knew Kreacher was serving the foul blood traitor..." Kreacher continued to mutter to himself as he walked out of the room.

Sirius sank down into one of the dusty chairs. He was stuck in this house with Kreacher and his mother's portrait for company.

_Great_, he thought bitterly as he summoned a bottle of Firewhiskey.


End file.
